Help HubPages Change Modern Education

Though we have already submitted proposals to speak at SXSW Interactive (the tech-oriented conference of the world famous annual Austin, Texas set of festivals and meetings), HubPages would also like to have its voice heard at SXSWedu, the part of SXSW dedicated to educational innovation.

Both HubPages Head of Education Robin Edmondson and myself have submitted proposals detailing how user-generated content and online publishing platforms can augment teaching, learning, and the overall education industry.

The world of publishing has drastically changed in the last 15 years. Online new media training is increasingly important to students, teachers, and professors. You may be the most eloquent writer since Shakespeare, but if your work isn’t found, who’s going to know? Learning the nuances of online writing can mean the difference between being an online superstar and your work being lost among the millions of similar articles on the web.
While our standards of high-quality writing have remained somewhat static over the years, the characteristics of successful online content have evolved significantly. Why, then, are we still teaching kids how to write for the old-fashioned print world?
Robin Edmondson will address common mistakes and best practices when it comes to teaching your students how to write articles that, while well-researched, well-written, and intellectual, will also cater to search engines, social media, and short attention spans.

Educational institutions generate waste at obscene levels. Essays and research papers are submitted and graded, never to be appreciated again, students fail to re-visit and remember previously covered subjects, and worse still, many students fail to see the utility of knowledge gained in an abstract classroom environment.
As with conventional waste, educational waste can be addressed with the simple principle of reduce, reuse, recycle. We must *reduce* students’ workloads, focusing instead on engaging curriculum that contributes to online discourse. Students must *reuse* their work by sharing it online with the world at large. Finally, curriculum must be designed to *recycle* lessons by encouraging students to maintain an active role in online dialogue surrounding past work.
User-generated content enthusiast and HubPages Head of Outreach Simone Smith will offer tips on implementing these principles with helpful examples and pointers. Let the conservation of knowledge begin!

How do conventional educational approaches waste knowledge, feed disengagement, and leave students ill-equipped to enter the next stage in their lives (be it continued education or the professional world)?

How can user-generated content and new media be leveraged to address problems with comprehension, engagement, and knowledge retention?

What are some specific ways in which teachers and professors can reduce, reuse, and recycle wasted knowledge using new media that both augment the learning process and leave students more equipped to move on to the next stage in their lives?

We would really like to have our voices heard at SXSWedu, not only to get the HubPages name out there, but also to show people how our site and community, along with other online publishing platforms and tools, can revolutionize education.

5 replies on “Help HubPages Change Modern Education”

I applaud both ladies proposals that will benefit new generations. We will see more Ipads in the classes, meaning a tremendous window for HubPages’ writers and educators. There are different approaches to teaching and we have innovated ways that some teachers with a traditional schooling would envy.The potentials of better education using the HubPages platform can be compared with the invention of printing by Gutenberg back in 1454. Thank you Robin and Simone for these excellent proposals.

I love both ideas. The children of this generation already know more about computers than many adults; and it will only get more computer oriented as time goes on. By changing how we teach our children, we can change how they learn, and increase their abilities to function in a computer oriented society.